Deirdre M. Daly, United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut, announced that RICHARD DOYLE, 64, of Litchfield, waived his right to indictment and pleaded guilty today before U.S. Magistrate Judge Thomas P. Smith in Hartford to one count of receipt and distribution of child pornography. At the time of his arrest in December 2012, DOYLE was employed as a teacher at a private school in Connecticut.

“This defendant received thousands of images portraying the sexual abuse of children,” stated U.S. Attorney Daly. “The fact that this heinous crime was committed by a teacher, whose profession is committed to the well-being of children, makes it especially disturbing. I commend the FBI and the Connecticut Child Exploitation Task Force for investigating this matter, and the work they do every day to investigate these crimes and protect children.”

According to court documents and statements made in court, in late October 2012, a law enforcement agent logged into a publicly available Internet file sharing program and downloaded images of child pornography from shared directories maintained by DOYLE. On December 4, 2012, the FBI executed a search warrant at DOYLE’s Litchfield residence. DOYLE was arrested after he admitted that, for at least two years, he had used the identified peer-to-peer program to obtain and trade child pornography with other individuals over the Internet. DOYLE further admitted that he had been viewing child pornography since the 1970’s, had used other computer programs to trade child pornography, and had purchased magazines containing child pornography.

DOYLE indicated that he had thousands of child pornography images in his collection, with some of boys as young as five, six or seven years old. He directed the FBI to a plastic container hidden under his workbench in the basement of his home, and indicated that the thumb drives in that container comprised his collection of child pornography, with the exception of some magazines that were still in the attic.

DOYLE stated that he only used his home computer system to download and view child pornography and never used his computer at the school where he was employed.

Pursuant to the search warrant, law enforcement seized a desktop computer and seven thumb drives. Examination of the computer and thumb drives revealed in excess of 4,000 image files and approximately six video files of child pornography.

DOYLE is scheduled to be sentenced by U.S. District Judge Vanessa L. Bryant on March 10, 2014, at which time he faces a mandatory minimum term of imprisonment of five years and a maximum term of imprisonment of 20 years.

This case is being investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Connecticut Child Exploitation Task Force, which includes federal, state and local law enforcement agencies, including the New Haven Police Department. The Connecticut State Police has assisted the investigation. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Ray Miller.

The Connecticut Child Exploitation Task Force, which is housed at the main FBI office in New Haven, investigates crimes against children occurring over the Internet, and provides computer forensic review services for participating agencies. For more information about the Task Force, or to report child exploitation crimes, please contact the FBI at 203-777-6311.

This prosecution is part of the U.S. Department of Justice’s Project Safe Childhood Initiative, which is aimed at protecting children from sexual abuse and exploitation. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.justice.gov/psc.